


Cool Kids

by Exaltes



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 19:32:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1911042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exaltes/pseuds/Exaltes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A high school au based on the relationship established in A Game of Crime on twitter.</p></blockquote>





	Cool Kids

It was that season again. Formal dance season. Everyone was getting ready for it, and Victarion’s mother had already given him an ultimatum, one that his father would uphold. He was going. Again. He loathed stuffy suits and was pretty pissed about it, something that was clearly written all over his face.  
“Cheer up, brother,” Euron said with an amused smirk. His buxom girlfriend, Falia, was sitting next him, very much the princess the of the Pyke. “We could… place a little wager.”  
Now Euron was talking his language and Vic only raised a brow and inclined his head, storm eyes interested. “Go on.”  
“It was actually _my_ idea,” Falia said, with a smirk. _Great_. “Take a dweeb to the formal. If you can make a beauty out of the geek, you’ll win a hundred dollars, and legendary status.”  
He looked at her, still not amused, but said, “On the condition that I get to pick the dweeb with you.”  
“Deal.”

Armored in a loose sweater, scarf, and her brown hair pulled back, she pushed the thick glasses up her nose and kept her head down. Melly’s mind was on her upcoming AP Chemistry II exam, keen on avoiding the jocks and queen bees. River colored eyes darted about, careful to not look at the queen bee Falia too long. Her boyfriend was handsome; in a sinister kind of way that made Melly’s heart drop into her stomach, and his brother… she heard stories about him. He got into a lot of fights after school and was the captain the boxing team. Eyes flicked back to her books and she moved swiftly out of the hall. She had dance next, which was a blessed relief compared to the athletics department.  
Girls were horrible to each other, and worse to the timid, awkward girls. Melly was not a bombshell, she spent her time studying, and while she had a slender frame and wore light make up, she was mostly undetected by the male population. Walking with her head down, she ran right into something solid, scattering her books and notes all down the hall. She glanced at her books, then at the man standing before her.  
Vic Greyjoy. She wasn’t afraid, but a blush rose onto her cheeks and she mumbled an apology. He heaved a sigh at her, and actually helped her gather her things. “You’re Melly Rivers, right?”  
He was talking to her. She blinked, a deer in the headlights. “Uh, yes. That’s me.”  
“You wanna go out some time?”  
She actually laughed. “You’re kidding.” Her voice came out like a squeak. And he just gave her a look. “Or you’re not kidding.” _Was this some sort of sick joke?_ She looked around for a moment, clutching her books to her chest, waiting for any of the mean girls to pop out of the woodworks and laugh at her. When none did, she only gave him a small nod. “Sure.”

Falia was floating around his room with a camera, taping him getting ready for his _date_ with Melly. Euron was merely leaning in the doorway, watching him with his smiling eyes. “So,” Falia said, taping him, “Vic, tell us about your upcoming date.”  
He tossed her a grin and shrugged as he pulled on a tee shirt from their family’s company. “We’ll see.”  
“Do you think you’ll get to first base tonight?”  
“Hopefully I’ll get to three.” He shouldered past them both and moved to his truck, driving to the address where she lived. It was very middle class. Three brothers came out of the kitchen when he arrived, standing the foyer. The eldest was his age, about his build, and for a second Vic thought there might be a good fight coming, but the moment was broken by the timid arrival of Melly. She was wearing jeans still, the normal scarf, and instead a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tee-shirt. Hopeless, he was pretty certain. But Vic liked to win, so he’d keep fighting. He didn’t promise to not keep her late, and didn’t really even try to get her father to like him. He also didn’t open the door for her.  
The drive was quiet to the theater, and the timid doe-like creature in the seat next to him was gazing out the window. He stole a look at her. She seemed sad, in reality, and fragile. He flicked through radio stations, stopping when she made a noise. It was Sinatra, and she was humming along to it.  
“You like Sinatra?” Vic asked, genuinely surprised and in a good way.  
“I do. I like Rat Pack too, and Johnny Cash, and Beethoven,” her voice was sweet, and she gave him a tender smile.  
His eyes went back to the road.

The next morning Falia was in his face with the video camera again. “Status update?” she asked, ever taunting him.  
“She’s… pretty fucking hopeless. Pathetic too. Has no idea about dating or guys or anything. Just plain sad, truth be told,” Vic said, pulling the punching bag up to begin practicing. He doesn’t know why he said that, mostly to get Falia out of his face. Melly wasn’t that hopeless, he didn’t think. She’d be good for someone, but to him she was just a bet. 

Solving a complicated chemical reaction and eating a slice of pie, her blue eyes only briefly lifted before doing a double take as Vic sat down at the lunch table with her. She actually got to her eat her pie today, when it was generally taken from her. Her shoulders rounded as she felt the entire student body turn to look at them. “Listen, I don’t know what your angle is,” she started, silencing when the Greyjoy looked up at her.  
“So, you like Cash, Sinatra, and you like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The first two I agree with, the latter I can accept.” He reached over and pulled at the scarf, “Why do you wear this thing? It’s spring. It’s not even cold outside.”  
She shifted uncomfortably, and shrugged back. Wide blue eyes met his and asked slowly, “Why are you talking to me?”  
Vic raised an eyebrow, which made Melly even more timid. “Is it a crime to talk to you?”  
“No,” she answered quietly, allowing him to tug off the scarf.  
“You’re pretty, you shouldn’t cover yourself so much.”  
Her eyes jerked down, trying to not feel the rush of red heat that flooded her cheeks.  
“And you’re cute when you blush,” he said with a smile, nabbing a bite of her pie.

The heat and noise of the crowd put Melly on edge. Gone was the scarf and sweater, instead she wore a pretty tank top and skinny jeans, paired with wedges. She stuck out like a sore thumb. All the guys wore Tapout and Fox and the girls miniskirts and exposed midriffs. She crossed her arms over herself, and tried to not touch any one. She saw him first, but then again the entire crowd was looking at him. His eyes caught her and a lopsided grin came to his face. Melly gave him a smile back as he approached her.  
“I didn’t think you’d come,” he said, looking at her, in a way she thought was good.  
“You did ask me to…” her voice was lighter than the crowd’s and seemed to float through the space.  
“I did, I did. So, you think I can knock this guy out in what, five hits?”  
She eyed the guy and said with some sort of confidence, “Seven. I think seven. He looks hungry.”  
“I’m hungrier.”  
 _I know._ But before she could respond he was being swept off, and climbing over the rope. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and stood in the crowd, staring with horrified interest. He was something close to art, the way he moved. Already bigger than most guys his age, he moved with artful precision. Each blow was calculated, and blood poured from his knuckles and his opponents face.  
It took six hits.  
Vic took a swallow of beer and was swinging back out of the ring, toweling off his face. Melly moved through the crowd and her eyes were drawn to his hands immediately. “Let me see them? I know some first aid, and you know, I want to be a doctor.” Her voice was stronger, knowledge making her more confident.  
“Yeah, sure Doc,” Vic said and placed a giant paw into her two small hands.  
“You should wrap them. It’ll keep you from damaging them and getting arthritis sooner.”  
“Duly noted, Doc,” he said and swung an arm over her shoulder. The whispers began there, and Melly found them hard to ignore. She looked up at Vic and when he looked back down at her, she looked away.  
“What is it?” he asked.  
“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Things had changed. Over two weeks things had changed. Melly started to wear tighter fitting clothes, ditched her glasses for contacts, and lunches with Vic started to be a thing as well. She smiled more, and people noticed her. It wasn’t a surprise that he asked her to the formal dance, and even Falia seemed to be accepting of her. She picked out a lovely gown that was champagne colored and truly lovely. Spending the better part of the day getting ready, she was putting on some red lipstick when she heard Vic’s deep voice making small talk with her father and brothers.

Small talk wasn’t his thing. It never was. Yet somehow he seemed to be managing just fine while he waited for Melly to come downstairs. He was nervous, partially because of the bet and partially for reasons he didn’t quite understand. He was midsentence with her dad when he stopped. Tiny, and fucking beautiful, her hair pinned back with a flower and in a floor length gown. He actually swallowed roughly. He had to tell her. He had to tell her that it was a mistake. But he never got the chance, because she was singing to Sinatra, and holding his hand, and looking at him like he was the world.

It was midnight, the lights dimmed for the crowning the formal royalty, and Falia was on stage. Melly was standing a tick behind Vic, her hand tucked into his. Falia was wearing a black and revealing number, her lipstick bright like blood. She tapped the mic. “Right, hello. I’m Falia Flowers, and every years the formal committee does a project type thing. This was Beauty and the Geek. Basically, a jock takes a geek out and attempts to transform them—”  
Vic swore under his breath and was trying to push Melly along, but the lights were suddenly on them.  
“This year goes to Vic Greyjoy and Melly Rivers! Congratulations!” Melly was frozen, her bright, wide eyes on the screen that showed the video footage of Vic’s canon interviews. “Fucking hopeless.” She blinked hard, and looked at Vic, who was half in shock and half about to burst with rage.  
She nodded at him and picked her dress out of the way before striding out of the formal hall.

He had been considering choking the life out of that bitch Falia, but in a blink Melly was gone, and there wasn’t a choice. He was running after her. But she had made it 16 years with being invisible and was gone. He stood in the parking lot, eyes dark with rage, and he landed a punch that shattered the window to Falia’s silver Benz.

Melly, who had spent most of her life wishing she wasn’t invisible, never wanted to get back to that state again so badly. Bullies, girls, boys, people she never even spoke to or even knew, where all laughing at her, making snide comments. Her locker was decorated in the appropriate beauty and the geek theme. She wanted to run, instead she tore down the unwanted decoration. A boy took that moment to knock the books from her hands and kick them down the hall. She heard Falia’s bubble of laughter, and wished she could melt into the tilework. Before Melly could bend down to retrieve her stuff, the boy was knocked back into the lockers, a red mark already appearing under his eye.  
“Apologize to her,” Vic demanded of the boy. “And go pick up her stuff.”  
Melly just stared at him.  
“Oh look, Vicky has gone to rescue his dweeb!” Falia laughed.  
Vic’s head snapped up and he strode over to her, grabbing her by the throat, and shoving her into the lockers. “Shut the _fuck_ up, you stupid bitch. Or I swear I’ll knock your fucking teeth out.”  
Falia raised her chin, “You wouldn’t dare.”  
“Try me.”  
Melly had seen enough. She grabbed her stuff and darted off, embarrassed and ashamed further. This time her powers of invisibility couldn’t hide her though, and Vic caught up to her. Grabbing her wrist, he spun her into the wall.  
“Stop, you stupid brute!” She tried to shove him off, but he was too solid. Hot tears streamed down her face and self loathing hit a new high. “Haven’t you done enough damage? Haven’t you shamed me enough?” Her tiny fists pummeled his chest, and she tried to claw her way away from him.  
“Mel. Melly. Stop. Listen to me!”  
“What’s there to listen to?!” She screamed back, a desperate animal now, lashing out in any way she could, though nothing even caused him to pause. “Nothing we had was real, you took me out on a _bet_ and publicly humiliated me.” Hot tears turned into sobs, and she stopped fighting. “And here I was the sucker that actually liked you. All of you. You don’t give a damn about anything, and now you won’t leave me alone.”  
He brushed her hair out of her face, trying to get her to look at him, trying to wipe away her tears. “Melly, I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t think—I didn’t know she was going to do that. I intended on telling you…”  
She didn’t stop crying, she didn’t even bother holding herself up anymore. “Just leave me alone, Victarion Greyjoy.”  
“I won’t. You know that.” His lips were hot on hers, his hands holding her face steadfast. She hated that she kissed him back, she hated that she was forgiving him.  
“Melly, all that footage was taken before I even knew you. I know that doesn’t make it better, but that was before. Before all this. Please.” He let her go.  
She stared at him, her fingers to her lips, tears still rimming her eyes. “No.” The word fell out of her mouth and she darted off once more, leaving him standing alone and stunned.

He sat in the locker room after a fight, slowly unwrapping his hands. He won, but it was a hollow victory. Vic’s mind was on her lips kissing his busted knuckles. His pace picked back up when Tom came through the door and sat on the bench next to him. Tom didn’t say a word, but the question was there. _Where’s Melly?_  
“I fucked it up, Tom.”  
Tom gave him a side eye and lit a cigarette. It was a minute before he spoke. “Then fix it.”  
Three word solutions courtesy of Tom Tidewood. _Easier said than done, pal._  
Tom only gave him another sidelong glance. _No, it’s not. And you know it._  
Vic always hated it when he was right.

Melly had her knees drawn to her chest, her arms wrapped around her stuffed giraffe, Paddo. Heartbreak _hurt_. She had her brothers drop off the fighting shirt of Vic’s at his house, and her room was cleared of everything that reminded her of her feeble attempt at being something she wasn’t. A ping at her window. Two seconds passed and then another. She ignored it. Another two second pause then a louder ping. She heaved a sigh and crawled out of bed, and opened her window, only to stare at Victarion Greyjoy standing on her back lawn with a slice of pie and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hoodie.  
And Melly smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> A high school au based on the relationship established in A Game of Crime on twitter.


End file.
